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Monday, February 02, 2009

Today was the first time I actually sat and listened to the lyrics to Jay-Z's current song, "When the Money Goes".

I have been feeling like Generation Y and Generation Z are on their way to being lost causes quickly because they concern themselves with things that are insignificant to their growth as a human being. We all know what happens when a species has no desire to grow with the times...it ceases to evolve. In the case of Generation Y and Z, I think the likelihood of them evolving into monsters and killing each other off is more likely than them dying off like the dodo bird. Humans weren't created to go extinct. We just continue evolving...it ain't looking too good as to what we're evolving into though.

I look at my generation and I understand that this evolution of principles going down the drain started with us (Gen X overlaps with Gen Y). My generation was (and still is) so fixated on NOT being victims (like our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents) that we fight/fought to succeed...at any cost. While it is GREAT to work hard and persevere through it all, without balance you become just as bad as someone who is lazy and doesn't want to work to achieve anything. Without balance you have two spectrum's that are Generation Y and Z in a nutshell.

I look at when I was born (1979) and where I was born (Oakland) and I am thankful that I was born in a city and an era that encouraged me to take care of myself and IF I met a man who worked as hard as me, that didn't mean stop working and sit on my azz; it meant CONTINUE working hard right along with him. I look at my brothers generation (he was born in 1984) and they are SO much different. They don't believe in hard work but they want the success. The work that they do partake in, they want a cookie IMMEDIATELY. Longevity is not in their vocabularies. Attention spans barely exist and if they make it to 21, they consider that a job well done.

I look at the young women born after 1982 and they REALLY do be on some other shat! Not to say that women in my age group aren't either but at least I can look at them with a side eye because they SHOULD understand the importance of getting up off their azz and working for their money. The end of my generation that bleeds over into Y will only work so hard to get what they want; the other part, they feel should be handed to them simply based off what is between their legs and how they look. This is where Jay Z's lyrics come into the picture...

Being two blinks from 30, anyone who is under 25 is almost like a little kid to me. Their thought patterns and outlooks on life vary SO much from mine and it has NOTHING to do with geographical upbringing. It has everything to do with what they've ingested growing up. I wish I knew where the disconnect was in families. I'm not going to blame it on the music, rap artists, etc. because PARENTS are the first people to influence their children. I'm curious as to what parents are telling their children (or not telling them) that encourages them to act like wild monkeys with no home training.

Me and my sister are 29 and 30, respectively. My brother is 24. We were all raised the same...up to a point. That point was the critical moment that makes his thought process TOTALLY different than ours. Sometimes me and my sister sit on the phone wondering what in the hell his damn problem is and IF we really were raised by the same parents. Even though there is only a 5-6 year difference between us, you have to look at when my parents had us...and when they had him. They were fairly young when they had me and my sister, 21 and 22. My brother didn't come along until they were pretty much my age. When my sister and I hit puberty, my parents were still VERY MUCH in the mood to whoop our azzes...they were only in their early 30's at that time. When my brother hit puberty....they were in their early 40's. Those 10 years made all the difference in the world because they were getting tired. They were ready to get on with their life and a teenager was slowing down their one step closer to relaxing. So guess what happened? ALL that discipline they shelled out on me and my sister (when they had the energy)? GONE! My dad did make a HUGE effort to tag my brother's hide but the consistency him and my mom had with me and my sister was no longer there.

Consistent discipline might have made my brother respect authority more than he does now. He'd respect the fact that when you don't do something you're supposed to, there are consequences to pay. Instead, he pretty much learned it in the street....the worst place in the world to learn how to respect someone.

I used us 3 as an example because I think parents today are just tired...tired of the economy, tired of dealing with life...tired of it all. So when they come home, disciplining their wayward teens that are simply going through puberty is too much and they just want to relax. So their banshee children are let loose on the general public and they grow up into these young men and women who have no respect for themselves or others. Thus, you get the women Jay-Z was talking about in "When the Money Goes". These kids don't know what perseverance is because they've never been made to stick anything out. It's very much so the Veruca Salt syndrome. They want it now and someone is going to give it to them...NOW. If they don't get it from you, they are going to work hard to get it from someone else. The irony...they'll work hard to get YOU to get something for THEM.

My coffee is now lukewarm from this rant and I know I might have been all over the place but I sincerely feel Generation X needs to work on saving their sister/brother generations before we are left with only them...and I think they'd sooner extinguish us in lieu of their own survival. Better late than never, right?

P.S. - I know I have some younger readers...please don't personalize this (unless you are that ungrateful peon who shows their azz to their parents and anyone else who represents authority). I know some of you still act like you have some damn sense. And to show you I know, I read this young ladies blog all the time because she has a pretty damn good head on her shoulders and doesn't act like a "Where the money at!?!?" type of bitch young lady.

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points of view:

I will agree with the we want it now part and my generation being lazy, You can partly(well mostly) blame technology,parenting and economics for that. For most our my time mostly everything our generation had, has been spoon fed to us, we also grew up during the "bling" era where if it's not flashy its not right. However I don't think it comes to down to beating I think that after a child is 10 you really shouldn't be getting beating, your mind should be at the point where you know right from wrong and if the child doesn't then the parenting can be the blame for that. I do know that I will be spanking my kid but I will also be there to direct him/her so they can be a rounded invidual...

LOL I don't think it has to do with beating either...it has to do with DISCIPLINE and BALANCE. Just so happened me and my sister got more than our fair share of beatings...that's the only reason I mentioned beatings. I was more so talking about discipline, in general, though :)

I have been noticing the younger generation has no idea what discipline is (physical or mental). I feel for parents to a degree because of the conditions they have to raise their children in (definitely doesn't make it easier)...but I only feel for them a little bit. Can't give up on the kids before they even get out the gate, you know? I see how hard it is but I also see a lot of parents who just give up trying because they don't want to feel like they are going to war in their own home. Parents are different than back in the day too...guess everyone has to play their part well if anyone wants it to get better...

First off thanks for maing a brotha feel young...lol. Still in College I'm among cats that were born in like 1990...yeesh...Which was the crowd I thought u were referring to when I started reading...when you said "after 82" I was like deezamn.

But I pretty much agreed with every thing you spoke of last year. That was until the Obama campaign. Now I'm pretty hopeful. I've come to see that every generation tends to look at the next like "the world is going down the tubes" but it really isn't that bad.

LOL it isn't that I'm not hopeful...I FULLY attest to the mantra, "if you believe it, you can achieve it". I just want other people to lend a helping hand to the process because believe it or not, what these youngsters do will affect us somewhere down the road, you know?

I think every generation looks at the next like that because it has progressively gotten worse LOL but you know, it always gets worse before it gets better :)

GIrl this is so real. I teach First Year Seminar to College Freshmen and the things that come out of their mouths amaze me. Ive had parents call me about their College age childs attendance or grades! The funny thing is they spend so much time trying to get out of or around doing stuff that if they would actually do things the right way they would realize its quicker that route. They value social and media aspects waaaaay more than we did. (you and I are very close in age)

The good thing about them is they learn really fast, and are technology savy. If we could get them to use those things for the advancement of our nation as opposed to trying to take short cuts. The sky is the limit!

I totally agree with you on this. There are a few exceptions to the rule but the majority of the under 25 people that I have come into contact with (even just in brief passing) just don't get it. Many don't understand that you have to WORK for what you want, or that you need to have character and substance. Most just care about the latest bag, shoe, or video; very few can tell you what's going on with the economy (yelling "we are in a recession" does not count). Don't get me wrong, some of my peers are the same way, but it saddens me when I see that there are still highschoolers that read at a 3rd grade level, yet can recite a song lyric verbatum and is wearing the latest kicks. Why are they being rewarded for this? I can't blame it all on them because their parents are there to raise them, not just provide the necessities (food, clothing and shelter) but I sometimes wonder how you can continue on in life at 18, 20, or even 23, and not realize there is more, so much more to life than material possessions?

Very glad you added the bottom part because a person's time of birth means very little and how they are raised means everything. We can blame the economy and the state of things and the change in gears with our society so much...but if that parent wasnt taught much (or much worse--had their kids ridiculously young), then they can only go so far (hence a reason for the "tired" factor). My brother is 18 and doesnt have that "where the money at" mentality at all. It's quite shocking because so many of his peers are like that. But it's his upbringing that separates him. Upbringing and the parent mold are damn near everything when it comes to children. The outer influences have a role, sure...but not even close to the importance of raising that child is...

@ Relevantlystaying: I do agree...this generation is phenomenally great at learning quickly and can figure out technology so much quicker than the average person. I think the younger generations have the potential to take society to a place that even our parents didn't fathom....as long as they use their powers for good and not evil LOL

@ kimkim: I like that you said "there are exceptions to the rule" because there definitely are. I don't think the ENTIRE Generation thinks along these lines; just a large amount of them do.

@ Ms_Slim: There are two sides to everything. In a generation there are a majority of people who behave a certain way due to the era they were born into. Almost like an invisible conditioning that takes place along with their training they get at home. So yes, there are exceptions to EVERY rule and your brother just so happens to be one of those but his generation, for the most part, looks at things ENTIRELY different than my generation, even your parents generation. I won't be a fool and say my generation wasn't different from my parents, because it was. We are a lot more tolerant of others than their generation was...hence why we have so many people who are growing more comfortable with their "sexuality" as the decades go on (just an example).

As for someone who has kids at a young age, there is a stigma attached to that too but it's there for a reason because most (NOT ALL) kids who have kids, well their kids end up not really doing the "positive thing". But my nephew can be said to be an exception to the rule. He'll be 12 this year and my sister is 30. He has his generational ways about himself BUT they aren't as bad as some 12 year olds I see because of his training.

So I agree with you on the training part, but that's across the board. Typically, you have generational traits that are prevalent no matter what generation you analyze. It's how era's are defined :)

i loved this entire post. ( and that song lol ) this is why i don't get along with too many of my "friends" because i exhibit more gen x traits and they sit around and do nothing and want results like you described my generation

You know, I've always wondered how I compare to the average person my age in my generation. I can't honestly say I remember specific things my parents did, the places we've lived, or how they have played into me and my brother's upbringing...but, I know we got sense. LOL

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About Me

I'm a wordy, sarcastic, reasonable kind of woman. Big on thinking and all the other great attributes that manifest themselves as a result of being a brain (read: nerd @ heart). Considered a weirdo by some but last I checked most memorable people are...weirdos.